Emergency extended for another month in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2010, 05:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka parliament Tuesday adopted the motion tabled by the Prime Minister seeking the approval to extend the state of emergency for another month by a majority of one hundred and fourteen votes. One hundred and twenty-five members of parliament of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties voted for the motions.
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Muslim families to be resettled in Jaffna soon – Jaffna GA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2010, 06:01 GMT]
“The Muslim families evacuated from Jaffna 20 year ago will be soon resettled in their own places,” Jaffna Government Agent (GA), Ms. Imelda Sukumar said in an event held in Jaffna Osmania College Saturday. The event was organized by more than ten Muslim organizations in Jaffna in memory of the evacuation in 1990, sources in Jaffna said. Imelda Sukumar saying in the event that Sri Lanka government is correct in asserting that there is no place in Sri Lanka for any race to claim exclusive rights to it, has raised controversy among the people of Jaffna. She had previously said that there were no High Security Zones in Jaffna peninsula but only areas which have not been de-mined, a statement contrary to the truth, the sources added.
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10 new envoys present credentials to Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2010, 20:55 GMT]
Ten new envoys, including 8 ambassadors and 2 high commissioners, presented their credentials to Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday. Colombo has received new envoys from Norway, Switzerland, Cyprus, Mexico, Peru, Oman, Pakistan, Cambodia, Vietnam and Mongolia. Four of the envoys are women.
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PS member killed in accident in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2010, 14:50 GMT]
A member of Vaakarai Pradeshiya Saba (PS) in Batticaloa district died Friday night in a road accident as he and two others were riding motor cycles. A lorry transporting metal along Puthoor-Kathirave’li road had hit him and the others with him, sources in Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, a group of local residents of the area in which the accident occurred had set fire to the lorry that had hit the victim and the others.
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No development in Jaffna worthy of mention – German delegation

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2010, 05:44 GMT]
A delegation of German MPs led by Ms. Petra Ernstberger visited Jaffna accompanied by German Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jens Ploetner and Mr. Guido Baumann, officer in charge of press affairs. Mr. Guido Bauman, at the end of the visit Thursday, told local press that the delegation saw no development worthy of mention in Jaffna. He added that the main intention of the delegation was to find out how the German tax payers’ money given as donation is being used in Jaffna peninsula. Mr. Holger Ortel, Mr. Jurgen Kilmke and Dr. Birgit Reinemund were the three German other parliamentarians besides Ms. Petra Ernstberger visiting Jaffna.
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Local elections amended bill before Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2010, 14:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Tuesday granted time to the petitioners and the intervenient petitioners to file their written submissions before November 8 in regard to two Bills-Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Bill that seeks to amend the Municipal Council Ordinance, the Urban Council Ordinance and the Pradeshiya Saba Act No 15 of 1987 and the other entitled “Local Authorities Elections (Amendment Bill)” that seeks to amend the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance”.
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SLA soldiers try to evict resettled Tamil families in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2010, 17:40 GMT]
A group of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members of Jaffna Municipal Council who visited Tuesday the resettled Tamil families in Vasanthapuram, Ma’niam Thoaddam area in Jaffna said that the families complained to them that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are trying to evict them saying that the area has not been cleared of landmines. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government has decided to settle the Sinhala families claiming resettlement in Jaffna on the coastal areas of Jaffna Fort and Ma’niam Thoaddam in Kozhumpuththu’rai, sources in Jaffna said. SLA claiming the area to be infested with landmines is seen as a ploy to evict the Tamil families so as to make room for the Sinhala families to settle there, the sources added.
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Mavai Senathirajah refutes Jaffna GA’s statement on Valikaamam HSZ issue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 October 2010, 07:58 GMT]
“I am one of the victims uprooted from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone 20 years ago and the petition filed by me in court seeking resettlement is pending inquiry. It is ridiculous for Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar to claim that there are no HSZs in Jaffna peninsula,” Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil Natilonal Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian said. Ms. Imelda Sukumar, speaking at the event of the handing over of furniture by SLA to Jaffna Teaching Hospital Saturday had claimed that there were no HSZs in Jaffna peninsula but only areas which need to be cleared of landmines.
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Malaysian Tamils protest Indian PM inaugurating their township

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 18:25 GMT]
Around 200 Malaysians gathered Wednesday to protest Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurating ‘Little India’ in Brickfields, Malaysia, were dispersed when police arrested key leaders, Free Malaysia Today reported Thursday. The protestors questioned the rationale of naming the area ‘Little India’ when most traders doing business there for the past three centuries were Tamils. The protestors were also unhappy about Malaysian government choosing Manmohan Singh to preside over the launch. Manmohan Singh was least concerned about Tamil welfare, “Look at what happened in Sri Lanka. The Tamils were massacred by the Sri Lankan army but he was very quiet about it. The Sri Lankan army also attacked Tamil fishermen in Rameswaram (India) but Manmohan was mum about it as well,” M S Arjunan, a Malaysian Tamil leader said.
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Supreme Court dismisses Sarath Fonseka’s petition

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 10:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Friday dismissed the election petition filed by Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka challenging the re-election of the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the presidential election held on January 26 this year, without trial. The five-member bench comprising Chief Justice Asoka de Silva and Justices Shirani Bandaranaike, K. Sripavan, P. A. Ratnayake and S. I. Imam upheld the preliminary objection raised by the respondents including Mahinda Rajapaksa and decided not to hear the petition as the petitioner had not been able to name the respondents in proper.
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Police arrest University Student leader

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 10:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka police arrested Udul Premaratna, Convener of the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF), a front of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Friday morning shortly after a delegation of the IUSF met the leaders of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) at its Sri Kotha office. Premaratna was arrested by policemen in uniform outside Sri Kotha when he came out after having discussions with UNP parliamentarians Karu Jayasuriya, Tissa Attanayake and Ruwan Wijewardene.
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NP Governor retracts sudden transfer of Ki’linochchi Director of Education

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 05:59 GMT]
The education officials and principals of schools in Ki’linochchi district abstained from duties Wednesday in protest against the sudden transfer order to K. Kurukularajah, Zonal Director of Education in Ki’linochchi, by Northern Province Governor, Major. Gen. G. A. Chandarasiri. The governor, however, said that the transfer order has been immediately cancelled in a meeting he convened in Vavuniyaa Thursday, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The governor had also claimed that he had nothing to do with the sudden transfer order to K. Kurukularaja. Meanwhile, the protestors in Ki’linochchi said that Chandrasiri acts more like a military commander in performing his duties than as the governor of Northern Province. He had been the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander of Jaffna before being appointed as governor. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) too had joined in the Wednesday protest.
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SLA targets prominent Tamil businessmen in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 12:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has cast its net wide to arrest around 163 leading Tamil traders in Jaffna on charges that they had funded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the past, Jaffna Traders Association (JTA) circles said. Some of them had been already arrested and detained after being interrogated in the notorious ‘Fourth Floor’ of the SLA Intelligence Wing in Colombo. SLA is engaged in rounding up the prominent Tamil traders claiming that it has evidence of their involvement with LTTE found in the statements of the traders in their detention, the sources added. The real motive behind this move is to cripple the prominent Tamil traders in Jaffna to eliminate them competing with the Sinhala traders who continue to invade Jaffna since the opening of A9 land route, JTA circles said.
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TNA files petition challenging Local Authorities Amended Bill

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 11:30 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday filed a petition in Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court that the “Local Authorities (Special Provisions)” Bill seeks to amend the Municipal Councils Ordinance, the Urban Councils Ordinance and the Pradeshiya Saba Act No. 15 of 1987 while the “Local Authorities Elections (Amendment)” Bill seeks to amend the “Local Authorities Elections Ordinance” which cannot become law without the ratification of the elected Northern Provincial Council (NPC).
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63 war-damaged Kovils in Trincomalee need urgent repair

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 01:09 GMT]
Sixty three Saiva Kovils out of the 343 in the Trincomalee district are in a state of repair as they have been partly destroyed or damaged in the conflict. They urgently need financial assistance for their reconstruction and renovation. A memorandum detailing the damages was handed over to the to Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, D. M. Jayaretna, by the leader of the Trinco delegation led by Mr. Arulsubramaniam, General Secretary of the Trincomalee Koneswaram Kovil, at a discussion over the state of affairs of Saiva Kovils in the district held at the Trincomalee district secretariat auditorium on Tuesday afternoon.
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Sinhala professors file petitions challenging the amended Local Elections Bill

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 October 2010, 16:51 GMT]
Two professors of Sri Lanka Peradeniya University have filed petitions in the Supreme Court separately seeking the court to declare the amended Local Government Authority Bill is contrary to the constitution. The petitioners Professors Navaratna Bandara and Ranjit Amerasinghe have named the Attorney General as the respondent.
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SL government fails to help renovation of war destructed Saiva temples

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 October 2010, 06:22 GMT]
“Sri Lanka government has done nothing to help to renovate the places of worship of Tamil people destroyed during tsunami and war in the North and East,” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarian Pon. Selvarasa said speaking at an event in Thaazhangkudaa Sri Periyathampiraan temple in Batticaloa district. “Only five percent of the 500,000 rupees allocated by SL government to each parliamentarian under the annual budget could be spent on renovating temples. The requests by temple administrators to renovate their temples cannot be fulfilled by us completely,” Selvarasa said.
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Media and state crimes

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2010, 19:31 GMT]
“You don’t say or even think that the invasion of Iraq is a criminal aggression of the kind for which people were hanged in Nuremberg […]. Suppose a newspaper started publishing the truth—that the invasion of Iraq was a criminal invasion that destroyed the country, that newspaper or the TV station is not going to get any ads”, said 82-year-old Noam Chomsky in an interview to India’s Outlook, Saturday. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, making his most brazen disclosure – 391,832 secret documents on the Iraqi war, is a hunted man by the world’s Establishments, reports The New York Times, Saturday. “You play outside the rules, and you will be dealt with outside the rules,” Mr. Assange an Australian national was told by an Australian official.
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TNPF opposes new local government elections bill

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2010, 05:15 GMT]
Former Jaffna district parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said that Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) would oppose the proposed new local government elections bill by Sri Lanka government in a press briefing held at the party office in Jaffna Sunday. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which had also expressed its strong opposition to the said bill will file a petition against it Monday in the High Court, according to the announcement made by TNA Jaffna parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah.
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TNA appeals people to be aware of betrayers in East

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 October 2010, 05:24 GMT]
“People should be aware of persons who betray the Tamils for petty concessions of Sinhala chauvinists,” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) key person in Ampaa’rai district, Chelliah Rasaiah, the Executive Director of Kaarainakar Pushpa Social Development Society said in a meeting held in Ampaa’rai by TNA to create political awareness among people, sources in Ampaa’rai said.
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